I have admitted several times that I have trouble interpreting the property land records that I get from the Recorder of Deed’s database. It dawned on me to look at my own property records to get a sense of what is what.
For reasons, I’m going to change up some names but I will keep the dates. In 2001 I bought my house with a mortgage. In 2003 I took out a HELOC, or 2nd mortgage with Bank B. That was recorded in 2004. In 2006 the Bank B HELOC was paid off and it looks like I took on another HELOC for 100K for the major renovation with Bank A. In 2009, I refinanced, replacing Countrywide with Bank A and absorbing the HELOC I had with them into the new 30 year mortgage. When 2014 rolled around, we (now married to The Help) refinanced to a 7 yr ARM with some cash to pay for the 4th renovation. What I don’t see is the HELOC I took out that year in my name. Which might explain why the title company couldn’t find it either when we sold the house.
| Document # | Name | Other Name | Doc Type | Recorded | ||
| 2014XX4 + | GR | BANK A | GE | INSHAW MARI | CERTIFICATE OF SATISFACTION | 12/02/2014 |
| 2014XX8 | GR | THE HELP | GE | GEORGE MICHAELS | TRUST | 10/16/2014 |
| 2014XX7 | GE | INSHAW MARI | GR | INSHAW MARI | DEED | 10/16/2014 |
| 2014XX7 | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | THE HELP | DEED | 10/16/2014 |
| 2009XX3 + | GR | BANK A | GE | INSHAW MARI | CERTIFICATE OF SATISFACTION | 10/16/2009 |
| 2009XX8 + | GR | COUNTRYWIDE FUNDING CORPORATION | GE | INSHAW MARI | CERTIFICATE OF SATISFACTION | 08/10/2009 |
| 2009XX5 + | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | GEORGE MICHAELS | TRUST | 07/30/2009 |
| 2006XX6 + | GE | INSHAW MARI | GR | BANK B | CERTIFICATE OF SATISFACTION | 11/20/2006 |
| 2006XX2 + | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | BROWN JAMES | TRUST | 08/23/2006 |
| 2004XX8 + | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | DEBARGE JAMES | TRUST | 01/15/2004 |
| 2001XX8 + | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC | TRUST ASSIGNMENT | 07/24/2001 |
| 2001XX1 | GR | SELLER DUDE | GE | SHEILA E | APPOINTMENT SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE | 06/28/2001 |
| 2001XX2 + | GR | SHEILA E | GE | SELLER DUDE | DEED RELEASE | 06/28/2001 |
| 2001XX6 | GR | SELLER WIFE | GE | INSHAW MARI | DEED | 05/24/2001 |
| 2001XX7 + | GR | INSHAW MARI | GE | PRINCE | TRUST | 05/24/2001 |
No, I did not meet Prince, or Sheila E or James Brown. Agents of whatever institution wound up being recorded as Trustees.
As I mentioned, I bought my home in 2001. There are 5 associated documents. Document 2001XX7 is a Trust where I am the Grantor and Prince is the Grantee. Prince in this case was working for the DC Housing Finance Agency and listed as the trustee. I was the borrower and DCHFA was the lender. They sold my loan to Countrywide, see Document 2001XX8 Trust Assignment. Document 2001XX6 is a Deed, where I’m the Grantee and the Seller’s Wife was the Grantor. The Seller was a Grantor too, but they only list 1 person in a field. In the Deed the Sellers were the party of the 1st part and I was the party of the 2nd part. This was the paperwork of them selling the house to me. I’m not really sure what Document 2001XX2 & 1, a Deed Release and Appointment Substitute Trustee, were about, but my guess is that it was the payoff of the load between the Seller and First Union (now Wells Fargo) where Sheila E was the trustee.
In 2003 I took out a HELOC to update my kitchen. For some odd reason Bank B filed the paperwork in 2004. James DeBarge was a trustee on that.
In 2006 I took out a HELOC from Bank A of over $100K to do the big renovation (document 2006XX2). James Brown was a trustee on that one. That same year I paid off my HELOC from Bank B and got a Certificate of Satisfaction. So document 2006XX6 canceled out document 2004XX8.
In 2009 I refinanced my loans with Bank A. So I needed to absorb the HELOC with Bank A and cancel out the initial mortgage with Countrywide. George Micheals was the trustee acting on behalf of Bank A on document 2009XX5. Document 2009XX5 was a loan for $200K. This paid off documents 2001XX7 (later 2001XX8), and 2006XX2. Those then got Certificates of Satisfaction with documents 2009XX3 and 2009XX8.
Then I got married.
Then my spouse The Help and I refinanced, again, getting a 7 year ARM from Bank A (document 2014XX8). This was the thing that got The Help on the title (document 2014XX7). George Micheals was still a trustee with Bank A. The new loan paid off the old loan and I got a Certificate of Satisfaction (document 2014XX4).
There is so much paper work when you buy a house.
What I now know- Conclusion
First lesson, a trustee can be just an employee representing a bank or lender. Their names are insignificant. This means I need to look at the document for an institution name.
When I see Trust in the Doc Type field that means a loan. A trust will have trustees with names I can ignore.
Deed means the land has transferred or new names are added to the deed.
Okay, now I think I can go forward with a better idea of what’s going on with the DC Recorder of Deeds property records.